Even with the former coach’s highly-rated classes leading the way, North Carolina is 1-4 and playing poorly.

The Tar Heels haven’t been very disciplined on either side of the ball, and after the loss to East Carolina, many North Carolina players pointed to a lack of cohesiveness.

The high-flying offense new coach Larry Fedora promised upon being hired in 2011 has shown sporadic periods of success but hasn’t been consistently good yet.

Fedora’s two recruiting classes (one-and-a-half, really) were ranked 42nd and 44th in the country by Rivals.

Davis never had a class ranked lower than 32nd, and he brought three top-25 classes to Chapel Hill.

To Fedora’s credit, though, he willingly met a challenging off-the-field mess head-on, and most of his top players aren’t his guys.

Some of his recruits – like a trio of sophomore receivers led by Quinshad Davis – already are key offensive players, and Fedora will earn a free pass while the framework of his program is put into place.

North Carolina’s roster is heavily backloaded with young players, but recruiting is an inexact science and it’s difficult to say what happens when those young players reach the field.

The carrot of taking control of Davis’ former roster is all the talent he left.

It’s the transition that will define Fedora’s tenure at North Carolina, good or bad.